PEORIA — It was a case of good news/bad news when it came to the second-quarter earnings report for Caterpillar Inc., released Thursday.

The good news: Profits were up. The company announced a profit per share of $1.57, up from $1.45 per share in the second quarter of 2013.

The bad news: Sales for the quarter were down, from $14.6 billion last year to $14.1 billion this year.

Sales in Caterpillar’s construction industries division were up 11 percent but sales of the company’s mining equipment fell by 29 percent from the previous year.

“We increased the bottom line despite a weak quarter for resource industries segment, which is principally mining,” said Caterpillar Chairman and CEO Doug Oberhelman in a prepared release.

“Three key things are contributing to the continuing strength of our financial results — the diversity of our businesses, substantial success in operational improvements through the execution of our strategy and the strength of our cash flow and balance sheet.”

Caterpillar dropped its sales outlook a notch for 2014 to between $54 billion to $56 billion, down from $56 billion. The decline was based on the expectation of lower sales of construction equipment in developing countries, the company noted.

Meanwhile, the profit outlook for 2014 was raised from $5.55 per share to $5.75 per share.

Caterpillar sees “a modest improvement from 2013 levels” when it comes to global economic growth. Unfortunately, the firm wasn’t as optimistic about the mining industry it’s so heavily committed to.

“The mining companies are working off excess inventory right now. It will turn around. We’ll see replacement demand,” said group president and Chief Financial Officer Brad Halverson.

“But it won’t turn around this year. We think it’s bottoming out but we’ll call that when we see it.

“We’re committed to the mining industry as strongly as ever. If the middle class is going to grow around the world, mining will be needed. With a demand for energy, it’s a great industry to be in. We’re just in a bubble right now.”

“Last quarter, the company was down almost 40 percent in its mining business. Construction can’t make up for it all,” she said.

Duignan said the mining slowdown could remain for one or two more years.

Pointing to a strong balance sheet, Caterpillar also announced plans to repurchase $2.5 billion in Caterpillar common stock during the third quarter of this year. That’s part of a previously announced plan by the company to repurchase $10 billion worth of stock.

Stockholders aren’t the only ones who will be rewarded by company actions, said Mike DeWalt, a Caterpillar vice president with responsibility for the company’s strategic services.

“This will be a good year for (corporate) employees, too. Corporate-level incentive pay will go up substantially this year over last,” he said.

There might be fewer employees receiving that compensation, however. The number of full-time employees at Caterpillar dropped from 122,402 last year to 115,292 at the end of this year’s second quarter.

“The employment drop is part of the restructuring effort. As for next year, we will issue a sales outlook in October that will offer a better picture,” said Halverson, adding that the number of employees could rise if action was taken in Washington, D.C.

“Employment would go up with (the passage of) a infrastructure bill. When it comes to infrastructure — the repair of our roads and bridges — everyone knows we need a long-term solution. Why don’t we have one?” said Halverson, adding government needs to take action on bills that can produce jobs.

Along with the roads, the nation’s tax system also is in need of repair, he said.

“We’re proud to be an American company, a global company. But we need to be competitive outside the United States,” he said.

The fact that countries like Sweden, the U.K., Japan and China all have lower corporate tax rates than the United States is a problem, said Halverson.